The present invention broadly relates to cooking apparatus and, more specifically, to barbecue grill units. The present invention further relates to large scale grill units typically used in the restaurant industry.
Typically, barbecue grills used in restaurants, or other large scale cooking operations, include a large grid-like grilling area positioned in vertically spaced relation above an appropriate cooking medium (i.e., coals, lava rocks, etc.) for placement of food thereon. It is also common for these grills to include a rotisserie rotatably mounted in vertically spaced relation above the grid-like grill area, thereby permitting large roasts, chickens, or the like, to be rotated above the cooking medium and thereby cooked by the barbecuing process.
While the traditional restaurant oriented barbecue grill permits the cooking of a large quantity of food at a single time, they also include many disadvantageous qualities non-conducive to properly preparing large quantities of food. Included among these disadvantages is the fact that food cooking on the grill area, as well as the rotisserie, must be constantly monitored to prevent overcooking. If the food is not repositioned appropriately (i.e., flipped, rotated, etc.), a portion of the food may become charred and burnt, while other portions may be undercooked, thereby rendering the particular article of food somewhat unpalatable.
An additional disadvantage among traditional grills is that once the food has finished cooking, it must be immediately removed from the grill to prevent overcooking. Therefore, if the particular article of food is not going to be eaten soon after being removed from the grill, it will become cold and need to be reheated, thus diminishing its taste.
An additional disadvantage of these traditional grills is the uncontrolled heat emitted by the cooking medium. Any cooking medium, other than propane released through a tank having a regulator valve, continually fluctuates in temperature, either becoming hotter or cooler depending on how it is treated. As a consequence, it is difficult for the cook to accurately sustain and monitor the distribution of the cooked food.